Materials
Materials 'are textures and physical properties on a Part. The material of a brick can be selected within the Properties of a Part. When a material is applied on a Part, it will have a texture on all sides as well as different physical properties such as being lighter, being heavier, more buoyant, etc. Materials were added to Roblox in 2009. Before the addition of materials, all bricks could only be Plastic. History (detailed) When the earliest build of what is now known as Roblox was conceived in 2003, materials did not exist. By default, bricks could only be a smooth, texture-less material later known as Plastic, with intermediate physical properties. The only way that more aesthetic could be added to a brick was to add decals or textures. This remained unchanged for five years. Materials were an idea that the Roblox team had since 2008, or even earlier. However, no work was started until early 2009. This was when the first material, Wood, was developed. This was kept secret until the Roblox YouTube channel released a music video on March 8, 2009, that featured a small portion at around the 2:41 mark, revealing the Wood material. The majority of viewers did not notice this, however, a few keen-eyed viewers did. Eight days later, on March 18, 2009, Roblox released the Wood material to the public in a new version. They further announced this with a blog post. The release of the Wood material was praised by developers on Roblox, due to the fact that they could now add more depth into their games, rather than having to use a plain material. Also, a few users pointed out that they had noticed the easter egg on the music video. Worlds of Wood After the release, the Roblox team was looking forward to see what the playerbase would create with the new addition. Thus, a contest was hosted, dubbed ''"Worlds of Wood" as the official name. The contest started on March 31, 2009, and Roblox announced it with a blog post they put out on the same day. The contest was to see which contestant built the most visited place that had the Wood material as a main theme. The top 100 most visited places would be given a minor prize, and the top 10 most visited places would be given the greatest prize. Players were given around a week of time to participate. When the time was up, the places were reviewed, and new contestants could no longer enter. A few days later, the prizes were handed out to the Top 100 and Top 10 contestants. Afterwards, all the winners were announced on another blog post. More Materials The Roblox Team had successfully'' '''released the Wood material, but they were still looking forward to expand upon the release. On April 24, 2009, they introduced Slate. During the summer of 2009, they developed set of 5 more materials, which they released in September 6, 2009, on a new version. Furthermore, they announced this on a blog post. The new materials were: * Concrete * Corroded Metal * Diamond Plate * Aluminum * Ice However, unlike the previous update, this version was accompanied by other major changes, most notably to the Roblox skybox. Later in 2009, on an unknown date, Roblox released the Grass material, thus completing the original 9 Roblox materials. Post-2012 ''Please note that this is a section on Modern Roblox. Information here is purposely made as brief as possible. On October 28, 2013, the first major change to materials was introduced. All previous 9 materials were retextured, and more materials were added, including Marble and Brick, among many. Various more materials have been added ever since, the latest being Glass. List of materials Old Roblox had 9 materials in total, counting Plastic. New materials were added in 2013, as mentioned above. Plastic Plastic is the default material of bricks on Roblox. Before additional materials, all bricks were Plastic. Plastic has no texture or custom physical properties. Most bricks on Roblox are Plastic. It is also the second lightest material, and has the most glare or shine out of all materials. Wood Wood was the first material added to Roblox, the second counting Plastic. The Wood texture is similar to how wood would look in real-life, except it has a more cartoon feel. Wood acts similarly to Plastic, except it can float on terrain water. In older versions of Roblox, Wood would catch on fire if the fire effect got near any wooden brick. It is also the lightest material, with Plastic being the second. Slate Slate was the second material added to Roblox. It ressembles rock, stone, or any other mineral which means players mainly use it as a rough texture in their builds. Slate is heavier than other materials. Grass Grass is a soft and fuzzy material. Despite it being grass, 95% of its use is for terrain or nature in maps. Apart from being used as a grass, it is also used for tree leaves, dirt, and carpet. Concrete Concrete is another rough material. Like Slate, it is considered hard, and used for things like buildings, streets, or pavements. It is also heavy, but not as heavy as slate. Corroded Metal Corroded Metal is a metallic material. The texture looks like metal that, as the name says, has corroded, withered, or become old and rusty. Despite this, it's main use is for things such as old or abandoned structures that have decayed or rusted over time. The material is heavy, but lighter than concrete or slate. It has little glare or shine. Diamond Plate Diamond Plate is a metallic material similar to Corroded Metal except it is well-preserved, shiny, and plated. Despite these characteristics, it is used for things like space stations, rocket interiors, or steel gates. It is lighter than Corroded Metal. It has strong glare and shine. Ice Ice is another nature-based material. It, along with Foil, are the only materials that have unique and interesting effects and extensive texture modifications that are hard-coded within the game files. Ice also has the most known physical effect out of all materials that most Roblox players are familiar with. It is slippery on touch, making anything that touches it slide or slip. This lead to the creation of the iconic 2010 game Frost Nova, which showcased the effects of ice. Ice is light, having similar weight to Plastic. It also has moderate glare and shine, as well as minor reflectivity. Many players use it for things like frozen lakes or snowy mountains. Foil Foil is a material similar to Ice. It is often associated with Ice, due to having similar texture effects that are hard coded within the game, as well as looking somewhat similar to Ice. It also has minor reflectivity, also a similarity to Ice, and moderate glare and shine. Function Before the materials were revamped in 2013, materials functioned in a rather complex way. On medium and high quality levels, raw textures were not used on materials. Instead, advanced code located within the game files would procedurally generate material textures, which allowed materials to have a more realistic and random look. Most computers with their level on Automatic used procedural materials, as while complex, they were not too intensive. On the contrary, low quality levels used the completely raw textures, which are named "fallback" within the game textures. This did not look so good as they looked rather repeated on parts as opposed to the more random and realistic look of high to medium quality textures. History Table See also Surfaces References # https://blog.roblox.com/2009/03/building-against-the-grain/ # https://blog.roblox.com/2009/03/worlds-of-wood-building-contest/ # https://blog.roblox.com/2009/04/worlds-of-wood-winners/ # https://blog.roblox.com/2009/09/missive-from-the-pixel-mines/ # https://blog.roblox.com/2013/10/new-material-textures-are-now-live/ Category:Feature Category:2009 Feature